Quadfecta of Problems: Just seeking knowledge

My current house was built in 1997 and I moved in about 2 1/2 years ago.
For the most part, it has given me no major issues, aside from the usual
'features' (mis labeled/mis wired 3 way switches, switches wired to
nothing, male-2-male drainpipe job by the contractor for the utility
tub, etc).
Over the last year, I've acquired a set of problems that needs fixing,
and they're all somewhat related. I just wanted to get some thoughts and
advice on the problems, and their solutions (order of solutions) before
I set about on my summer tasks.
#1. Basement wall cracks. I have two of them. The first is outside,
above ground. The second one is inside, below ground. The two don't
overlap, and nothing leaks. I've sealed the inside crack. I need to seal
the outside crack. Since it's above grade, is there any reason to do
anything special other than the run of the mill crack filler?
#2. Ground erosion near the crack in #1. This was caused by heavy rain
runoff from the deck above it...more than the likely, the deck was not
sloped correctly. For now, I need to get more topsoil, and fill in the
erosion holes, and slope it away from the foundation. The back of the
house in this area gradually slopes down to the walk out basement door,
so there's only so much sloping away I can do, vs. the grade down to the
door. After it's been filled, what's the easiest thing to do to that
section of wall to prevent that from happening again? Would it be worth
it to make that area stones, or something else that will dissipate the
falling water?
#3. Ground erosion on the side of the garage. The grass has never grown
well in that area. When I moved in, I could barely see the spot in the
block where the Sump drainage pipe came out under the garage floor and
into the gutter drain pipes. Now it's obvious. When I'm dealing with the
dirt and sloping in the back, I need to build up the side as well. It
doesn't look like that filled the hold where the pipe goes through in
the garage wall. Is it worth fixing that now, or does it not really
matter since it's just the garage wall?
#4. The inside basement walls were painted with Drylock. The outside was
never painted. I would like to paint the exposed parts of the outside
walls, just to keep the water from beating up the mortar joints and any
crack patches/fixes over time. Any reason not too do such a thing? I'm
assuming it would be better to do that BEFORE I start messing with
getting dirt/sloping/grass back around the side and back where the above
issues are?
Thanks for the tips.
-=Chris

For all of these areas, I'd plant pachysandra. People say that after a
nuclear war, only cockroaches will remain. Add pachysandras to the list.
They're truly bulletproof plants. They'll do fine in shade, full sun, and
anything in between. Just give them reasonably decent soil (almost anything
except construction rubble). They're evergreen, too. Their wide leaves help
break the force of falling water, thereby helping to keep soil in place.
They're sold in "flats" - trays full of soil and plants, not little pots.
Use a knife to cut around & between the individual plants. Do this on a
cloudy day, and mist the soil gently, but thoroughly after planting. The
flats seem pricy, but they usually have quite a few plants. And, I suspect
that you could work some kind of deal with a garden center if you said you
wanted 5-10 flats.

Funny thing is, I have a frackton of this dark emerald green/blue tint
vining ground cover over on the other side of the house towards the
trees that is indestructible. I haven't touched it as of yet because I
can't identify it. The leaves are small, dark emerald green, with white
veiny pattern in the centers. Anyone seen this stuff before?
-=Chris

Some pachysandra have a bit of white in the leaves. Compared to the lead in
a standard yellow pencil, how thick are the stems closest to the ground? Or,
got a garden center nearby? Take a piece there for identification. If it's
pachysandra, you've got a free source of plants.

I've looked at most of the pach variants, and the leaves don't fit. I
would compare the stems to the thickness of the fake vining you would
buy in a craft shop... the color too. They almost look plastic. They're
growing in the tree line on the one side of the property. My only fear
of touching them so far has been not knowing what they are vs. finding
out I'm *ivy allergic. The leaves are about 3" long, and about 1.5 wide...
I'll try and snag a picture of it this evening. That should help
identify them.

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